Kingsbrook Animal Hospital's Blog: Running a petting zoo...and not charging admission (cont.)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Running a petting zoo...and not charging admission (cont.)


Then the rest…

LilliAnna is a 6 year old spayed female Pot bellied pig. I adopted her 5.5 years ago from people who were moving to town limits and couldn’t take her. She is very sweet to me, rolling over for belly rubs and scratches, but tends to bite anyone else…Her and Sammi are good friends, you can find him napping beside her in the straw on a sunny afternoon.
She lives outdoors in a “summer home” while it’s warm, but becomes a house pig and resides in the attached garage when it’s cold and/or snowy. She does not like snow! She is on a strict diet of low-fat piggy pellets to keep her girlish figure (She’s pushing 100 lbs), but will eat anything but radishes and beets…I don’t blame her!

Austin is a 7 year old neutered male Dachshund that I adopted from Dachshund Rescue of North America almost 2 years ago. He originally lived with a family in NC, but he slipped a disk in his back and became paralyzed. His family was unable to care for him with a disability and rescue was able to take him to a foster in VA. He lived with his foster mom for a year before I adopted him. He uses a cart to run in outside and we’ve managed his disability with various aides like diapers and the Protect-A-Pet sak the keep him clean and dry and free of rug burn. He loves to play ball, bark at the neighbors and pull all the stuffing out of his “babies”. He is definitely full of life and could care less his back legs don’t work.

Sugar and Spice are 2 female Sugar Gliders I received as a gift last year for my birthday. Sugar is an adult, somewhere between 5-7 years old and Spice is 3. They are very cute and fun to watch. They love to eat mealworms out of your hand, but will take a flying leap and land on your face if you don’t turn your head!

Andre is a 1 year old black male Flemish Giant that came from another family that was moving and couldn’t keep him. He is a big bun at 12 lbs but a total sweetheart. He is the newest addition, adopted a few weeks ago. He’ll climb into your lap to be petted and lets you hold him (trance him) like a baby. He enjoys playing with the dog too.

When my fiancée Josh moved in, he also brought fish tanks. We currently have a 20 gallon saltwater tank w/ a Damsel fish and live rock and a 55 gallon freshwater tank with a breeding pair of cichlids, their 3 offspring, an orange unrelated cichlid, a random catfish, and a Gourami.

Whew! So that’s the history on our clan.

Welcome to the Zoo.